Picker spindle lubricator



Dec. l6,1947- R. $.-SCHED|N 2,432,812

PICKER SPINDLE LUBRICATOR Filed June 15, 1945 Patented Dec. 16, 1947 PICKER SPINDLE LUBRICATOR Robert S. Schedin; Worcester, Mass.,"assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works,-Worcester, -Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application June 15, 1945, .Serial No.5991521 "This invention relates to improvements'in lubricators for loom picker "spindles and it is the general object of the invention to provide simple meansjby which the spindle will be lubricated due to motion of the lay.

"The"pi'cking mechanism of certain types of looms employs a long slender pick'er spindle secured to thelay behind the shuttle box and along which'thepicker is driven by the picker stick. Iniord'er toprovide smooth running for the shutftle'it is'necessary to lubricate the spindle so that the picker will slide along it easily. It is an important object of my present invention to provide .a lubricating device mounted on the loom and having a depending rod or wire which is struck by the. spindle asthe lay approaches back center and is tilted slightly to open a Valve normally held against its seat by a spring within the reservoir. When the valve is unseated a small amount of oil oliips down on the wire and is passed from the latter to the spindle.

-Loomlays are customarily driven by a crank shaft which cc-mpletes a rotation each pick of the loom and'moves the lay between front and back positions during loom operation. The picking stroke for the shuttle customarily occurs when --t;he-lay is on so-calledtop center and about mid- -way between its front and back positions while moving rearwardly. At some time prior to arrival of the' lay" at its rearmost position the picker'ris ordinarily on its return stroke and it is a iurther .object of the invention to mount the x-aioresaid reservoir and lubricator wire 50 that the latter willengage the spindle near its inner end atter the picker has started its return stroke.

*Al'thou'gh the picker ordinarily operates as already'described, conditions can nevertheless deve'lop-in'a loom which'will cause the picker to be in its i'nmost-position when the lay is at back center; or'be'in motion toward the outer end of the spindle when inregister with the lubricator wire. In order thatno'damagemay be done to the wire under these conditions it is so made as to be capable of universal angular movement with re- -'sp"ect to the reservoir.

having my invention applied thereto, parts of the lay and the shuttle being shown in section,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section through the lubricator reservoir, the picker spindle and lay being shown in two positions and the lay being in section,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section of the low- 3 Claims. (01. 139-458) .erpart-of the reservoir shown inFig. 2 indicating how tilting of the wire unseats the valve,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view looking in the directionof arrow l, "Fig. 1, showing the lay in 'forwardposition and indicating the manner :in which the reservoir can be adjusted-with respect to the loom frame, and

Figs. 5 to 7 are diagrammatic views showing'the mode .of operation of the invention.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the -loom frame 10, top or crank shaft ll, lay i2 and lay connector l3 may be of usual construction. The lay is provided with a shuttle box 14 to receive theshuttle S, and picker spindle l 5 is secured to the lay and extends along the latter behind and substantially parallel to the shuttle box. A picker .l-B slides on the spindle l5 and extends to the left as viewed in Fig. 4 to have its forward end H in engagement with the tip of the shuttle S. The picker stick l8 extends through a slot 19 in the picker and is the means by (which the latteris propelledalong the spindle.

In the matter thus far described rotation of the crankshaft II in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 causes the lay it to reciprocate backvvardly and forwardly, and the picker stick or- Ldinarily has its picking or working stroke when the lay. is moving rearwardly and is about midway between its front and back extreme positions. During the picking stroke the picker l5 slides along the spindle toward the center of the loom,

or up as viewed in Fig. 4, to cause the shuttle propelling end I] to pick the shuttle toward the opposite. side of the loom. On completion of the picking stroke the picker stick moves outwardly to slide the picker It on its return stroke in an outward direction along the spindle, ordownwardly as viewed in Fig. 4. Ordinarily the picker 1.6 will have completed a part of its return stroke by the time the lay reaches its rearmost position.

In carrying my present invention into effect I provide a simple lubricator for the spindle IS. The lubricate-r includes. a bracket 25 secured to the loomside and having a-slot 26, see Fig.4,

7 which extends generally in the direction toward andfrom the loomside and parallelto the .lay and .piGkGr spindle. A clamp arm 2! is slotted-as at 28, anda bolt 29 passes through the two slots and is themeans by which the arm 27 can beheld inadjusted and fixed position with respect to the loom and bracket 25. The outer end of the-arm 21 is provided with a circular strap 39 which surrounds-a cylindrical oil reservoir 3|. .A screw32 V clamps the strap 38 against the reservoirto hold t-he latter in vertically adjusted position. "It will be seen therefore that the cylinder can be adjusted toward and from the front of the loom, toward the loom frame Ill, and vertically.

The reservoir 3| is provided with a cap 35 having an inlet 36 by means of which a lubricant such as oil can be introduced into the reservoir. A long compression spring 31 presses upwardly against the cap 35 and extends for the length of the cylinder and bears against a valve 38 which may have a recess 39 to receive the lower end of the spring.

Secured to the valve 38 is a lubricator rod or wire 40 which extends downwardly through an opening or discharge port 4| in the bottom wall 42 of the reservoir cylinder 3|. The hole 4| is preferably slightly larger in diameter than the lubricator element or rod All so that the latter can move from the full to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3. If desired a washer 43 formed of suitable material may be secured to the under side of the valve 38. The rod 40 extends downwardly and may be rounded as at 45 and be so located that it will be engaged by the picker spindle l5 as the lay moves rearwardly. The rod 49 is preferably located near the inner end of the spindle l5 so that it engages the latter after the picker it has started on its outward return stroke.

The operation of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 5 to '7. When the lay is on front center position as indicated in full lines in Fig. 2 and in Fig. 5 the spindle IE will be in forward position and spring 31 will hold rod 40 in normal substantially vertical position with the valve 38 closing the hole As the crank shaft turns in a clockwise direction it will assume the position shown in Fig. 6 as the lay approaches its back center position, and cause spindle IE to engage the lower end of rod 49. Further rearward movement of the lay to the back center position shown in Fig. '7 will cause a slight displacement of rod 49 to the position indicated in Fig. 3, whereupon a small amount of oil will pass under the valve 38 and into the hole 4| and thence to the rod 40. The oil thus released will move down the rod 40 and eventually reach the lower curved end thereof which is struck by the spindle and be transferred to the latter. As soon as the lay starts to move forwardly from the position shown in Fig. 7 the spring 31 will return the rod 40 from the dotted to the full line position shown in Fig. 2, and also seat the valve 38 to prevent leakage of oil.

The valve 38 is preferably circular so that it can tip in any angular direction with respect to the bottom 42 of the reservoir. It is because of this shape of the valve that the rod 40 can be deflected not only as indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3, but can also move in a direction parallel to the spindle l5, should the lower end of the rod be improperly engaged by the picker when it is moving along the spindle I5.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided simple picker spindle lubricator mechanism including a lubricator rod mounted for universal motion with respect to a lubricator cylinder and having at the upper end thereof a valve which normally is seated to prevent escape of oil through the hole 4|. It will also be seen that the cylinder 39 may be adjusted vertically, or backwardly and forwardly, or inwardly and outwardly with respect to the loomside ill. The spring 31 serves not only to seat the valve but also restores the wire 49 to its normal position.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modification may be made therein by those skilled in the art without depart- 4 ing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In lubricator mechanism for a picker spindle mounted on a substantially horizontally reciprocating lay and along which a picker slides, a lubricant reservoir held in fixed position and having in the bottom thereof a port for the discharge of lubricant, a valve over said port so proportioned relatively to the reservoir as to be tiltable relatively to the bottom of the reservoir, a spring within the reservoir normally holding the valve seated over the port, and a lubricant rod secured to the valve and extending downwardly through said port and into the path of the spindle, said rod being of a size to permit lateral motion thereof Within the port, reciprocation of the lay causing the spindle to engage said rod to tilt the latter and said valve with respect to the reservoir and open the valve to permit lubricant to pass from the reservoir through said port onto said rod.

2. In lubricator mechanism for a picker spindle mounted on a substantially horizontally reciprocating lay and along which a picker slides, a fixed lubricant reservoir located above and behind the lay and having a lubricant discharge port in the under side thereof, a circular valve over said port, a spring within the reservoir normally holding said valve seated over the port to prevent discharge of lubricant, and a lubricating element secured to the valve and passing through the port and extending downwardly into the path of the spindle and picker, said valve and element constituting a unit capable of tilting in any angular direction relatively to the reservoir, engagement of th element by either the spindle or the picker tilting said element and the valve relatively to the reservoir to permit lubricant within the reservoir to move downwardly from the port and onto said element.

3. In lubricator mechanism for a picker spindle of a loom having a reciprocating lay along which a picker slides, a bracket secured to and projecting from the loom in a direction substantially parallel to the length of the lay and having a slot therein xtending toward and from the loom, a strap member, securing means passing through the bracket and strap member to hold the latter at any one of a plurality of positions with respect to the strap and the loom, a vertically extending lubricant reservoir within said strap, means to clamp said strap to the reservoir when the latter is in any one of a plurality of vertical positions, and a lubricating element communicating with the interior of the reservoir and depending therefrom into the path of the spindle.

ROBERT S. SCHEDIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 798,084 Thompson Aug. 29, 1905 1,307,889 Winholt June 24, 1919 2,219,779 Jennings Oct. 29, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 193,564 Great Britain Mar. 1, 1923 

